Democratic Congressman Eugene Vindman is calling on an investigation of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s orders to kill survivors of a US airstrike against against a narco-trafficking speedboat. The story about the orders of the Secretary War was published by the Washington Post which states that the Secretary of War Pete Hegseth order NAVY Seal Team 6 to fire again at boat with two survivors in order to “leave no survivors”.
The Department of War states that it was attacking a narco-trafficking group called the Tren de Aragua which has been designated as a terrorist organisation. The US government is dismissing concerns that its war against narco-traffickers is violating human rights. President Donald Trump designated several drug trafficking organsiations as terrorists and the European Parliament also followed suit.
Most drug trafficking cartels in Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela effectively operate like militias and terrorist organisations, fighting each other, civil society and also the civilian population to take control of territories, businesses and political power. Drug cartels in Colombia but especially in Mexico control large tracts of land and territories where the State effectively has no judicial and executive no control.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo disagrees with the war on drugs, and prefers to address cartel-infested territories with social services and additional expenditure. The murder rate in Mexico has gone down significantly from its recent highs, but Mexican drug cartels still operate like terrorist militias, own arsenals of weapons, control territories, challenge the state and effectively operate as a separate state while undermining the Mexican State itself. Armed drug cartels do not fit the criminal profile under a rule-of-law playbook, and their profile is much closer to a terrorist groups that challenge the authority of the State itself. On the other hand, the US is accusing the government of Venezuela of collaborating with drug cartels.
The UN Human Rights Office states that the use of war can only be conducted in self-defence and US strikes against drug-traffickers are violating the UN charter.
Airstrikes against Venezuela were expected this week and President Trump ordered Venezuela’s airspace to be closed down. No airstrikes have taken place on Venezuela’s mainland so far.
Newsroom
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